


a day of rest

by anotherdirtycomputer



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drabble, Dragon Age II - Act 3, Established Relationship, Nonbinary Hawke (Dragon Age), Other, Polyamory, established polyamory, kirkwall's favorite polycule, polycule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 12:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17601185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherdirtycomputer/pseuds/anotherdirtycomputer
Summary: Fenris shares a relaxing moment with his lovers.





	a day of rest

**Author's Note:**

> just wanna get more polyhawke stuff posted while i work on my larger fics and try to get school squared away... apologies in advance for any tense issues or formatting problems
> 
> warning for a brief implication of sexual abuse (fenris' past, not his present)

It was a lazy afternoon.

Few foes remained eager to face Kirkwall’s champion and the champion even less so to fight them. After days of journeys that felt endless, taking out crooks and slavers and more, Hawke thought that they and their lovers deserved a break.

Fenris agreed, and not just because Hawke brought him along on nearly every journey. As of late, the only one amongst them in truly high spirits had been Isabela, and while she did wonderfully in keeping her partners above water, Anders especially seemed to be suffering.

Rarely did he smile these days. His warm brown eyes were circled in dark shadows, his cheeks gaunt even as his lovers scrambled to keep him fed. He was twitchier and  _ angrier _ and pulled away from them all more and more by the day.

The smile on Anders’ face was now so rare, Fenris found himself wishing he could keep the image in his hand. The healer wasn’t energetic, not really, but he moved less like the world was on his shoulders and more like he hadn’t slept, lethargic and slightly weak. Meeting Merrill’s enthusiasm as she shot back how Dalish magic differed from Circle magic - and why - was an impossible task, but one no one held him to.

Fenris listened briefly, ears twitching nervously.

The beginning of the conversation had made him wary - Danarius and his allies (or occasionally enemies) would sit in his parlor often, discussing their preferred schools of magic, often boasting about their terrible crimes in name of ‘experiments’. These parties were meant to be a show of intellect - and of power. His thin leash was merely a provocation; Fenris poured each magister wine, a dangerous and expensive marvel poised to kill anyone who dared harm his master.

More often, they simply paid Danarius for an evening to defile his property.

The hot flame and spark of casting often left his heart beating in horror for this reason and more, but theory of magic was just … boring. Unless you were Anders and Merrill, it seemed. Even Hawke had tuned out the conversation, mage or not, choosing instead to nuzzle their face into Fenris’ hair. They flitted in and out of the Fade, napping with Fenris in their arms.

Fenris didn’t mind. He leaned back against Hawke’s strong chest, trusting his lovers alone in their intellect, and reached for Isabela’s hand in hopes of pulling her closer. Although she raised an eyebrow, she understood what he wanted and gave it freely, keeping the writing in her lap to widdle at. Her bare, shifting shoulder was warm against his own. Her unwashed hair was not so soft as it might have been, but still more than welcome against him.

The lot of them could likely use a bath, he thought, himself most of all. Unfortunately, there were few tubs that could fit all five of them. They’d likely have to go two at a time, three if they cleaned out one of the large tubs strewn throughout the stolen mansion.

Anders’ laugh caught his attention. It took him a long moment to pull his eyes away, seeing that face smiling,  _ laughing _ , for the first time in so long, and when he did, his eyes found Merrill’s face instead.

After the death of her clan, Merrill had been slow to wake and slower to smile. For what seemed like ages, she mourned, allowing her lovers to smooth her hair, bathe her, and feed her where they could. She and Anders hadn’t spoken at all during that time - and for good reason. Just because he agreed with Anders didn’t make his cruelty towards her any more justified. Merrill knew what she had lost and she knew who was at fault.

The other three had waited to see where these feelings between them would go, certain their fivesome would be split along one seam. Instead, Merrill and Anders are smiling at each other in kind conversation, as if eager to join the other’s company again.

To see them speak so freely, all tension between them melted away... Fenris relaxed even further against Hawke and Isabela. Hawke’s snore purred through their chest and through Fenris’ back, and Isabela’s shoulder shook with the movement of her writing, jostling his own arm. Anders and Merrill continued their talk of magic, focused entirely on the other, both relaxed for the first time in so long. Closing his eyes, Fenris smiled.

Baths could definitely wait until evening. For now, he would take a page out of Hawke’s book and rest.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> comments and kudos are a writer's best friends


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